A crystallized glass, which is used as an exterior and interior decorative material for buildings or used as a surface material for home desks and office desks, is required to have high chemical durability and mechanical strength and it gives a nice appearance at low prices. For such crystallized glass, various crystallized glasses have been proposed.
In one representative example, after a melted glass is shaped into a desired form and becomes a crystallizable glass, the crystallizable glass undergoes a crystallization heating process to form a crystallized glass. At least one or more crystals of K(Li,Al)3(Al,Si)4O10(OH,F)2 (lepidolite), KLiMg2Si4O10F2 (tainiolite), Li2Al2Si3O10, LiAlSi3O8, LixAlxSi3-xO6 (virgilite), β-LiAlSi2O6 (β-spodumene solid solution, Li2O—Al2O3-nSiO2(n≧4)), Mg2Al4Si5O18 (μ-cordierite), KMg3(Si3AlO10)(OH)2 (phlogopite), and KMgAlSi4O10(OH)2 (leucophyllite) can be precipitated from the crystallizable glass as a primary crystal, thereby transforming the crystallizable glass into a crystallized glass, which has good chemical durability and mechanical strength. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.)
On the other hand, a continuous forming production method using a continuous forming process equipment has served as a manufacturing method for crystallized glass, for example, as described in Patent Document 2. With this production method, the conventional annealing step performed before crystallization can be eliminated, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process, so as to reach the cost reduction goal.
Patent Document 1: JP-2007-126299
Patent Document 2: JP-2005-041726